The sight of that trademark blue cap on the Principality Stadium pitch will act as a warning klaxon to Wales tomorrow.

The Welsh know all about what Tadhg Beirne can do after a stellar couple of years with the Scarlets that was the making of him after he hit a glass ceiling at Leinster.

Hungry for Ireland recognition, Beirne left his beloved Scarlets behind last summer and picked up where he left off with an outstanding start to his Munster career.

Finally, after a knee injury in December scuppered his hopes of his first Six Nations involvement in previous rounds, the 25-year-old gets his chance to shine in Cardiff, with Iain Henderson ruled out with a knee problem himself.

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Beirne, 27, is one of three changes to the Ireland side this week, with Rob Kearney back from injury and replacing Jordan Larmour at full-back and Sean O'Brien recalled at no 7 as Josh van der Flier is injured and Dan Leavy is only a full week back into training after a calf issue.

"Tadhg Beirne has set his own standards over the last two and a half, three years," said colleague Peter O'Mahony. "He’s been incredibly impressive for both the Scarlets and us.

"He gets his shot in the Six Nations and it’s utterly deserved. He’s put in a lot of hard work. He’s got a couple of knocks here and there but he’s worked hard over the last few weeks and guys know what he brings and how important he’ll be to us is huge this weekend.

"The other side of it is a lot of these (Welsh) guys have played alongside him and know what he’s about so there’s two angles to it."

Beirne is a second row who adds so much more - as O'Mahony points out, his poaching stats are off the charts.

"He has the most turnovers in Europe, he's more than likely up there in the PRO14," said O'Mahony, the only Irishman to have played the full 80 in all four previous games in this campaign, something he puts down to a full pre-season and added robustness.

"His ability going forward, to pick a line, his ball handling skills...he's a footballer, you know?

"He could probably play across the back row as well, even though I'd certainly rather he didn't!